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In defence of Hendon

Posted by Elliott on Thu Mar 28, 2002 08:06:41 AM

In response to Cees' question, the Whitley is coming entirely out of my pocket and relies on the generosity of volunteers - for example, we have a small group of engineers in Scotland working on a Merlin X in their spare time. Suffice to say that we will not be producing half a Whitley and it will be a 'faithful rebuild'!

Hendon do the best they can with limited resources (as do all museums) - obviously I can't speak for them, but of course they would like to have a fully restored Halifax and Hampden (I should think they want this more than anyone), but it costs a lot in money and manpower and they have to be sensible with what they have, as do any museum. I get frustrated with delays (I'm only human after all), and find it is often quicker to go along to Hendon in person in order to get things moving - it does work! But then I am lucky enough to live nearby.

It's easy to get frustrated & annoyed when big museums don't SEEM to be making the right noises and yes, they do spend tax payers money but they don't get that much of it to start with.

No-one's perfect - the people who work on the shop floor actually restoring the aircraft don't get paid much and are among the most die-hard plane fanatics I know - it's a real labour of love. I knew one guy there who used to work nights to supplement his income - he still loved his day job! I take my hat off to them.



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